The Deathly Hallows: DAC's back
by Visions of Paradise
Summary: The DAC is back one last time, for the Deathly Hallows. Real danger lurks around every corner with the knowledge the girls already know and being where they don't belong. They must complete the tasks as their friendship reaches a breaking point.
1. Little Stone House on the Cemetary

BLAM! A streak of blue lit up a deserted clearing beside a church like a bright flash of lightning and Darcie, Whitney, Megan and I found ourselves in another tight fix.

"I'll never get used to those landings." I groaned as I pulled myself to my feet slowly, noticing the sting of ice under me. Everyone moaned in pain and slowly rose to stand, Darcie arching her back.

"Okay, so Titanic, Harry Potter 1and 2 and now." She looked around before her to survey the scene. "We're in the dark and it's snowing. Where the hell are we?" It was night all around us with snow and our short sleeved t-shirts did little to shield us from the icy sting of the weather beating against our skin. We shivered but pressed on. There were no footprints in the snow around us on the ground. In the distance we could see muggle houses with some Christmas decorations hanging around merrily, but it did nothing to change the feeling in the pit of my stomach that something was deathly wrong about the entire situation. I felt a little panic begin to rise inside of me. We were beside an old church and I thought my heart stopped as I started walking up behind Megan who stood beside some epitaphs sticking out of the ground. I held my breath and walked up to the one she stood before.

"Delaney," Megan asked wearily. "Why are we in a cemetary?"

"I don't know. There has to be something here to give us a clue." I bent down and used my hand to brush off some of the snow that covered the names on the tombstone that was engraved in white marble like a mausoleum.

_**JAMES POTTER LILY POTTER **_

_**BORN 27 MARCH 1960 BORN 30 JANUARY 1960 **_

_**DIED 31 OCTOBER 1981 DIED 31 OCTOBER 1981**_

Just below that, a single phrase caught my attention and was immediately etched into my memory forever.

_"__**The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death**__."_

"Harry Potter. That's where we are. Thank god, for a moment, I thought we were in Night of the Living Dead." I laughed and shivered as I felt my fingers begin to go numb from the cold. No one else caught the humor. The tight feeling of panic was still inside of me.

To get readers up to speed, we're the Dumbass Crew (D.A.C. for censorship). The DAC is our version for females of the popular MTV show, _Jackass_. It's made up of me and my best friend, Megan. Then there's Darcie (my little sister) and her friend, Whitney. We do everything together, from playing pranks, dropping objects from high altitude parking garages onto passing cars, to jumping into pools with benches (and everything in between). Point is, we have been through everything. Well, almost. But that almost was erased when I hosted a slumber party for my 15th birthday party. We watched Titanic and when everyone else was sleeping, I made a wish that we could go back to Titanic and change the ending. That wish ended up being one of the worst mistakes I'd ever made and we've been paying for it ever since going from movie to movie, changing some things around. So far, we've been to Titanic, Labyrinth and just got transferred from the first Harry Potter movie, where once again, we almost got killed.

So basically it all comes down to this: in a nutshell, we've been going from movie to movie and actually have been changing things. Sometimes they work out for the best and sometimes we really screw up and end up dying. Our first movie we screwed up was a perfect case of that. But here we were now... where ever here was.

I dusted the snow off my pants and my breath caught in my throat as Megan called for everyone's attention.

"Look!" Megan looked ahead, pointing into the dark. I felt my heart speed up as I walked forward, feeling the snow crunch beneath my shoes. There was a gate that I was pretty sure hadn't been there a few moments ago and there were ruins ahead of us. The foundation of a cottage was before us, bricks lay strewn everywhere around it, covered in snow but still able to be viewed. Everyone kept their distance, huddled together behind me as my curiosity got the best of me and I forced myself to continue forward till I was practically leaning on the gate, but didn't actually touch it. The grass around it had grown wild, making it obvious no one had been here in a good number of years. The last bit of the home was covered in dark ivy and snow. Most of the home was still standing, though the right part of the top floor had been blown apart like a bomb had gone off on the inside. That must've been where the bricks came from.

"What is this place?" I asked out loud as I crossed my arms over my chest, resting my hands under my armpits to keep warm. I began shivering. Whitney's voice broke the silence.

"Darcie, what's that?" I looked behind me to see what she was talking about and there was a sign on a part of the gate. I walked to it, after Darcie had beaten me to it, blew warm air onto her hands. I checked through my pockets and handed her the only possession I had on me: A lighter. She sparked a flame and read the sign aloud in the warm glow.

_**"On this spot, on this night of 31 October 1981, Lily and James Potter lost their lives. Their son, Harry, remains the only wizard ever to have survived the Killing Curse. This house, invisible to Muggles, has been left in its ruined state as a monument to the Potters and as a reminder of the violence that tore apart their family."**_

Darcie took a step back next to me and we all stared in awe at the countless scribbled handwritten notes that surrounded the sign wishing The Boy Who Lived all the luck in the world.

_"Good luck, Harry!"_

_"We're all behind you!"_

_"Long live Harry Potter!"_

I thought about the situation. I had read all of this before.

"Godric's Hollow." Megan answered simply.

"What's Godric's Hollow?" Whitney asked, for once completely serious. Darcie and her had begun to hug each other for warmth. I could see their breath turn to fog everytime they exhaled. It happened to all of us. The freezing weather made my feet and hands numb.

"It's the place Harry was born. This -" She suddenly went quiet and looked all around us.

"This is what?" Darcie asked.

"This is where You-Know-Who killed the Potters sixteen years ago." She stated. I absent mindedly shook my head in agreement. Something had come to my attention. We had never referred to him as You-Know-Who before. We just called him by his name, Voldemort. Then something else grabbed my attention. I hoped to god this wasn't the case but I had to ponder it aloud rather than make another mistake. Darcie opened her mouth.

"Why are you calling him, You-Know-Who? Why can't we just call him Volde-" I ran quickly to her and thrust my hand over her mouth panic in my mind.

"Don't!" I hollered. "Don't say his name! Darcie, I'm not kidding this time!" She grabbed my hand and threw it off her.

"What the hell? Why not! He can't do anything you saw him the last time!" She said in her defense, her anger rising.

"Darcie! Please! We're in the last book! This hasn't even been made into a movie yet so you'll just have to trust me!" I lowered my voice once it registered in my mind how loud I actually was. I looked around after a short period of silence. "If you never listen to me or do as I say, just listen to me now. This is the worst of all the books, there's real danger here. A lot has changed. This place is not easy anymore. Because of what we know we could get killed just because of who we are. Our only hope is to meet up with Harry, Hermione, and Ron. We can't trust anyone else."

"Why not?" Whitney asked. "What about the teachers at Hogwarts? Or Dumbeldore?"

"Whitney I told you a thousand times you needed to read the books. Dumbeldore's dead. The teachers are now mostly death eaters. We have no proof to the death eaters that we're for what they stand for, we have no proof for the ministry that we're pure-blood, and we have knowledge of what's going on so we can't pretend to be muggles." Megan said, adding to my case.

"Why can't we use Volde-"

"SHH!"

"Er- You-Know-Who's name?" Darcie asked cautiously.

"Because it's been tabooed. You say it, they trace it, they'll find us..." I swallowed hard and finished my sentence slowly so Darcie would understand the seriousness in my voice. "They'll kill us." I explained. "That or they'll take us to Him. Then he'll find out we know about the Deathly Hallows, what they are actually and where they are, torture us, THEN kill us." Darcie and Whitney's eyes washed over with a wave of understanding.

"Okay, gotchya." Darcie said, she sparked the lighter back on and began holding her hand over the flame for its warmth.

"Oh, one more thing." I added trying to lighten the situation. "Never trust a goblin." I told her. She chuckled a little, then suddenly turned the flame off and a loud crunch was heard like the crack of a twig after someone stepped on it and broke it in half. Everyone got silent and didn't move. A person was wondering through the gravestones, wearing a shrouded cloak. We checked our pockets hoping we had something to defend ourselves with. There was nothing. We ducked behind some epitaphs and prayed not to be seen. The figure moved closer to us slowly, quickly we spoke in hushed voices to each other.

"We need to get wands!" Darcie said urgently.

"We can't! Ollivander's been kidnapped!" Megan chimed in.

"Then we'll find another." Whitney said. Megan caught her idea and informed her of more bad news.

"There aren't any others. They've all been taken by You-know-who." She replied shivering as the snow began to fall harder and we peeked over the gravestone and saw the cloaked figure solemnly standing before James and Lillie's graves. Maybe it was the flash of moonlight that caught the person's face, or the snow that reflected it. But I swear I had seen red eyes.

"We need to get out of here." I said. "We need to get to Diagon Alley."

"But how we have no brooms. There's no way out of here." Megan replied, not moving her eyes from the figure who pulled out a concealed wand and murmured lumos and the graves were lit and more of the ominous holy ground we stood on was lit up. We ducked back into the shadows the best we could. Then I noticed the rubble of the Potter's house and thinking on my toes I looked to what remained of the second floor. A chimney flue.

"There's a way." I murmured. Everyone took their attention off the hooded figure and looked at me quickly before returning their attention. "Okay, on the count of three, we're going to run in the house." I answered simply.

"But there's a gate!" Darcie said, "How are we going to get through a gate?"

"Looks old enough. I'm going to try to kick it real fast and everyone run in and find the fireplace." The hooded figure was getting closer to us, not paying attention to the gravestones anymore, but now the half-snow covered tracks we left when we were searching through the graves. They would eventually lead to us. I looked at everyone feeling the adrenaline rush through my veins that overwhelmed the coldness I felt from the snow. I began to get up from my kneeling position. "Guys, it's ride or die at this point. Besides, it's the only plan we got. Anyone else got any ideas?" I took a deep breath as everyone shook their heads no, but stood up crouching. "1,2,3!" I said and we were off like a gunshot. Running towards the gate, catching the attention of the cloaked figure. I heard a hiss and some red lights were fired at us. I glanced behind to see no one had been hit, and stopped infront of the gate. I raised my foot and kicked with all I could. Nothing. The hooded person flew towards us at incredible speeds and aimed his wand at Darcie who was trying her hardest to scale the fence.

"Darcie!" Whitney screamed as we heard the figure mumble the Cruciatus at her. Darcie screamed out of a voice that was unearthly. It paralyzed her in the snow and made her look like she was having a seizure all the while screaming, her whole body enveloped in pain, she writhed in the snow as it continued to fall. The 2 seconds it took place seemed to last hours, before Whitney risked her life and ran up behind the masked person and tackled them from behind, stopping the attack on Darcie. Megan joined the fight to get the wand away from the one who was wielding it so savagely. It was obvious this person was a Death Eater. But, which one? Megan finally took to biting his hand even though he kneed her in the stomach a few times and it got the wand flung away in the distance. They all eyed it.

I kept kicking with all my might, not knowing how bad I was hurting myself. It was do or die. And suddenly as my leg began to get tired, I ran a few feet back, then ran forward again using all my body-weight against the iron bars. Suddenly it swung open. letting me fall through onto the ground.

"Come on!" I yelled at everyone. Everyone lifted their heads up and gave up on the wand and decided it was far enough away that he couldn't possibly reach it in time. We ran into the damp, cold, dusky house. Filled with so many memories that even Harry, himself had never seen. Then I noticed something moving. It was a picture. It was James, Lilly, and a baby Harry in the fall laughing, caught in the moment. I pocketed it and ran to find the fire flue. It was at the back wall with a little can next to it. Flue powder.

"Alright everyone get in and when I say so say 'Diagon Alley'!" I grabbed a fist full, just as we heard a cry from outside "They're inside the house, Dolohov! Inside!" We heard running footsteps. "Now!" Everyone cried in unison holding onto each other, 'Diagon Alley!' And I threw the powder down and a green flash took over all of us, as we were transported disappearing as we saw red flashes from the Death Eater's that had entered the house.

We all tumbled out of a dark fireplace. We looked around in the darkness, lit by the store window that stood at the front. We carefully walked quietly towards it, trying not to make a peep or a creak on the wooden floorboards beneath us. Once there, we assumed our crouched position. "Where are we?" Darcie asked.

"I don't know." Megan answered softly. We looked around what we could see. It was a book shop. The name escaped me, but it looked so familiar. like I'd been there before.

"This can't be what's left." Megan said continuing as she stood from the floor that was littered with books thrown from their shelves and some torn beyond repair, their pages scattered on the floor. What we could see was covered in dust. Darcie took a page and lit it on fire with the lighter from her pocket. Burgen and Blott's was no more. The window was cracked in places looking like a riot had taken place.

"I'm afraid it is." I answered, looking at the snow falling heavily outside. The place was deserted. The street lamps were out. The whole place felt cold, no longer festive colored or littered with people. It was scary, and the once almost familiar streets were replaced with dark shadows. Ghosts.

Just across the way I stuggled for the composure of what to do. How to survive this. I was clueless. And wand-less. I looked out the window and rubbed a circle to see clearly. Ollivander's was a few stores over. I had to brave this one. There was no way around this. We had to go to Ollivander's, or we would have no chance at surviving. And this was just the beginning.

"We're going to have to break in." I mentioned, not taking my eyes off the street. It was still cold in the room but considerably less cold than it had been outside.

"Break in, where?" Megan asked, making a small pile of books apparently searching for something.

"Ollivander's. We have to get wands." I said, then noticing the scrambling Megan was doing. "What are you looking for?"

"A spell book. Kinda like a dictionary of spells." The idea sounded good, so I let her continue. There were people with their wands lit going through the streets. We ducked the lights in a panic.

"Who are they?" Whitney asked putting the fire of the page out Darcie had lit quickly.

"They could be anyone. The Ministry's put out search squads for any one that's pretty much not pure-blood, and they get taken away. No one knows to where, they just disappear. Then they could be followers of You-Know-Who's and they get money for handing over muggles, especially the ones with connections to Harry."

"You can't tell who's doing what these days." Megan said picking up a book and putting it in a tote bag she found on the floor near the register. Cautiously she opened it and found a few gold coins that were left behind. "This place was robbed." She stated, shaking her head at the shame of it. To show such disrespect to human thought made her twist her nose in disgust. "And ransacked, from the look of it."

I continued staring thoughtfully out the window, gathering a mental to-do list. We needed wands. We needed to find Harry, Hermione and Ron, but with them in hiding and the entire magical world looking for them, it was going to be even more difficult. But most of all, we needed not to get caught. Whitney and Darcie might have a shot, but as for Megan and I, we knew what the Hallows were and where they would be. Or should be if the story wasn't changed on us. We also needed to help destroy the remaining horcruxes. Nagini was the most difficult. Voldemort's pet snake was always at his side for that very purpose of protecting her from any and all harm. Suddenly an idea struck me and I would've given anything just to have Harry's invisibility cloak at that precise moment.

"We need to get passed them to Ollivander's and find some wands that will work for us." I said. Everyone stopped what they were doing. "We can't just sit here and freeze to death." I began talking again once nobody agreed or disagreed with my plan.

"Delaney," Darcie started sounding down hearted. "Maybe we should just stay out of it this time." She threw a book she had been fiddling with to the side and looked at me with scared eyes. Whitney got to her feet and agreed once the crowd of people with their lit wands had passed and continued down the street.

"We all know this plays out for the good of civilization." Whitney explained. I stood their, refusing to believe my ears. We had only gotten here and the will to fight, had got up and went along on its merry way. "Harry defeats Him, remember? At least that I know. And he gets married and lives happily-ever-after." She walked closer to me. "Maybe we should just hide out and act like we don't know what's going on and -and just go with the flow."

"You guys can't give up on me now. Yes, there's real danger here. But we don't have a choice but TO get involved." I rebutted, they looked at me confused still. I continued, "Did you even know Mad Eye is dead? Or that Luna and other children are missing? Ollivander and ALL the wand makers have disappeared or been killed? Did you know Harry DIES?" I looked at both of their faces and as I searched, Megan's began to have a look of enlightened understanding. "I'm begging you guys. I'll think things through this time. We just got here. We can't give up now." The snow outside had lightened its falling, we would be easier to see now, but we had to chance it. I put my hand out palm down and looked at all of them. "We could be heroes to this world. We could save lives. We have to fight till the end." Megan put her hand on top of mine, then Whitney, then Darcie sighed. At last she reluctantly put her palm on all of ours and said what was on her mind.

"All right, fine. Till the end." We all broke our hands apart and headed towards the door. "But I swear to whatever God is out there, if you get me killed, I'm going to be so pissed at you."


	2. Long Journey into Night

**Chapter 2: Long Journey into Night**

Once we were certain the search party had passed us by, we started making our way to the front entrance of the dingy shop. I stopped and turned to everyone behind me and spoke as clearly as I could.

"Okay, guys. Once we get there, if something happens or goes wrong, I want all of you to get away. Just run. Come back in here and get to the Burrow if you can. Just please," I stared in Darcie, Whitney, and Katie's direction and pleaded. "Please. Don't get caught." They all nodded their heads in agreement and I put my hand slowly on the lock and twisted it open. I took a deep breath and opened the door quickly. One by one, we ushered ourselves out of the store and into the frozen glistening street across the way, trying to do our best to keep in the shadows. The short journey to a place that was only two stores down, seemed like miles as the snow seemed to pick itself up a bit and the wind died down till there was simply nothing but the darkness that now dominated the once festive streets. We picked up the pace as we reached the front of Ollivander's wand shop, and Megan tried her best to open the door. Nothing.

"Great!" She announced in a hushed voice. "Now what do we do?" I looked around for another way in, the only place I could think of trying to see if there was a back entrance- but seeing as this place relied mostly on magic for transportation, I found the solution unlikely. Darcie and Whitney ran across the street back into the book shop.

"Freakin' cowards." I whispered, watching my breath freeze in the air. I was sure I was turning blue. Megan, Katie, and I looked confused for them in the plunging darkness but all we saw were the footprints in the snow leading back to the shop we had just vacated. Suddenly, Darcie and Whitney came running back with something bundled up in their arms. I watched in astonishment as Darcie lifted a heavy book from her arms about the size of a dictionary, and swung it back and forth a few times before announcing "3!" And she sent the book sailing through the air and crashing into Ollivander's window. Her smile quickly turned to a frown as we checked the streets in both directions in complete silence to see if anyone had heard the noise. I looked angry at her and she smiled and shrugged.

"Don't see you doin' anything." Darcie answered simply. I pondered for a moment and asked aloud,

"Okay, Darcie. You've done this before. So I need you to focus right now and do what you do best." Darcie and Whitney smiled at each other calmly and high fived.

"B and E, man." Then Darcie walked calmly to the door and raised her leg and kicked as hard as she could just above the door handle, to our amazement, it flung itself inward and hit the wall with a loud bang that I was almost positive would've broken the window in it. But it didn't, the glass stayed intact. We all looked at each other, stunned. They quickly looked around to see if the search party had heard anything. After a few moments, nothing happened. When we were positive after a few moments that no one was coming for us, we looked into the dark abyss that seemed to be the shop, and I looked at Darcie, then turned my glance to the door- hinting for her to go in and investigate.

"Hell no. I'm not going in there first. I got the door open." Darcie stated. We all shifted our glances to Whitney.

"I'm with Darcie. Are we sure nobody's in there?" Whitney answered and looked wearily into the darkness of the shop where the light from the moon didn't reach. I gritted my teeth.

"This is rediculous. How do you people expect to-" I peered into the darkness trying to make out anything inside. I continued my sentence with hesitation feeling fear rising up through my spine. "Make it through this if you're- if you're afraid of the dark?" No one stepped forward. "Fine. I'll do it." I searched my pockets. "Darcie, give me my lighter." She handed it over quickly. I began to walk inside, inching my way more slowly as I got closer to where the light didn't touch. Maybe we had arrived before Voldemort had kidnapped Ollivander and he was hiding in here somewhere.

"Hello?" I called out. There was no answer. "Is anyone here?" I called out again, more quietly. I pulled out the lighter and sparked it for a moment and continued making my way towards the back. I could've sworn the last time we were here Ollivander had a candle or two. I continued searching blindly till I hit my stomach into the sharp edge of the counter where Ollivander had given us our wands for the first time. All I knew was that my wand was made from mahogany and had a core of chimaera scale. I searched with my fingers on the counter and lit the lighter to find one candle sitting across from me, covered in dust.

"Hey guys, it's alright." I announced as I lit the candle. They came shuffling in one right after the other, swatting the snow out of their hair and off their shoulders as they continued to shiver. The chime from the door sounded as Whitney shut it behind her. On the other end of the counter was another candle. I handed the lighter to Darcie. "Light the other candle and take Whitney and Katie to go look for your wands. Megan, come with me."

We split up into our groups and made our way to the numerous shelves that held the boxes of wands. I walked carefully as Megan trailed close behind me. Appearantly they were all lined up according to what type of wood they were made from and each little section in the aisles had different cores. I pulled out a box that stated 'Mahogany- 11 1/4 - Chimaera scale' and reached my hand cautiously in the box to retrieve one. I pulled it out and whispered "Lumos" and the end lit up a bright blue light. I didn't know if there was a certain sign to be watching for, but it felt like this was the exact same one I had before, almost like we were made for each other. I never felt a connection that strong to an inanimate object in my entire life.

I watched as Megan found hers, and looked into the hefty book of spells she had borrowed from the book shop we had vacated. She searched the page furiously.

"Why don't these things come with indexes!" She said angered. She must've felt pressured by the clock ticking in all our minds.

"What're you looking for?" Megan asked.

"How to minimize things." Megan and I looked curiously at her as she told us of her intentions. She looked at us incrediously as she clutched the book. "Well I can't very well carry this around with me all the time, can I?" She explained. Megan stepped closer to her and shuffled through the pages with her. When they found what they were looking for, I watched with interest to see if the spell would cooperate with her. The book was outlined in a blue glow and flipped back in forth from size from bigger to smaller. Then it suddenly went smaller with a loud crackle and she placed it into her pocket. I instructed the others to take the candle and go help the others find which wand suited them best, while I would keep watch out the window for company.

Once I reached the window, I kept my eyes as open as I could. "Nox." I whispered and turned the light out on my wand. From behind me all I heard was Darcie and Whitney speaking. and boxes being pushed and pulled in and out of their spaces while they searched.

"Hey Whitney, remember when we came to Ollie's and he gave us the wands and we turned him into different colors?" I could see the smiles on their faces in my mind.

"Yeah, it was like ... 2 weeks. Or at least it seems like it was." Whitney replied. I could hear the longing in her voice for when the times were simpler.

"I miss those days already." Darcie replied.

Secretly, I did too. Things here were so full of uncertainty and the new characters and deaths of ones I was familiar with seemed to be too much change. Everything was simpler then when we were sent to the movies we were familiar with; sending us into a book was a cheat. Who really remembers every detail in a book? Or times were so much easier when we were in Hogwarts, safe behind it's many stone walls and gates. If we went there now, I reminded myself, we'd find ourselves in just as much trouble as if we were caught. The teachers were Death Eaters. And the new headmaster, was none other than the one who killed Dumbeldore. I didn't have the heart to remind them again.

We couldn't even go to the authorities around here. The Ministry was over-run and penetrated by Voldemort's many followers and devotees. It was like the Holocaust for the half-blooded wizards- even worse for the Muggle-borns, the ones without magic in either parent like us got locked up in Azkaban everyday from what I remember. As did the Squibs.

I kept my vigilance up as I thought of all this and the sounds of objects scooting around seemed amplified as everything else seemed to disappear as I stared from one end of the street to the other. There had to be some way to find Harry. It wasn't like we could just walk around to townspeople asking for him.

"Aha! Got mine!" Whitney announced. From somewhere in the back.

"Me, too!" Darcie answered. All I saw as I glanced to the back were wands illuminating the shelves suddenly. When everyone was satisfied, we made our way to the store front and made sure everyone in our group was accounted for. I had to admit, at that moment, I was glad to have so many companions. Don't get me wrong, they're great people to be around when you're in trouble, but at the same time they're also likely to be the reason you get into trouble. Now was not the moment for reminiscing, I chided myself and returned my attention to the present, at-hand situation.

"Alright. From here, we're going back to Flourish and Blotts and use the floo to get to the Burrow. Stay together, and if someone finds us, just run as quick as you can to it." I told everyone, I could almost hear their adrenaline kicking in if it wasn't already from almost getting caught once. I guess since I was the one who got us in this whole granduer mess in the first place, I appointed myself as authority to get us out of it as well by acting as the mother of the group, so to speak. We deluminated our wands and got close as we could to the window to get a peek of the street. We looked all around for anything obvious, then anything less obvious like movement. Once I was satisfied, I looked at the others for agreement. "Anyone see anything?"

"No." Darcie answered.

"Coast's clear." Replied Megan. I walked towards the door and extended my hand to reach the doorknob. The cold metal felt like just a taste of the weather on the other side. I felt my hand instinctively tighten on the wand it held as I began to turn it, but suddenly stopped when a voice called to me.

"Delaney, wait!" Katie called. I ceased all motion as I turned to look at her. "What do we say to get to the Burrow?" She asked. I actually wasn't very sure. I racked through my mind to remember the name of the town it was in. It was an unusual name, known only to wizards, I knew that much.

"Delaney!" She pressed.

"Hang on! I thinking of it!" I hissed. I thought quickly, running through every bit of my knowledge about the whole place. I closed my eyes in frustration and I visualized how the burrow was described and I pictured myself going through a file cabinet looking for information. It was a saint and an animal in the name.

Beaver? No. Platypus? No. Saint...then it clicked and my eyes opened quickly. Got it.

"Ottery, St. Catchpole." I answered confidently. "It's the town it's in."

"What if we can't find the house?" Darcie asked, taking a step towards me.

"We can ask around. The whole town is nothing but witches and wizards. They're sure to know them." I concluded. I began to turn the doorknob open only to get stopped again.

"What spells do we use if someone comes after us?" Katie asked.

"Confundo, Expelliarmus, Impedimenta, Petrificus Totalus or Avada-" Megan and I listed some off, but I cut them off.

"No! Don't kill them unless it's a life-or-death situation! We're trying to keep a low-profile and the last thing we need to have is them come looking for us for revenge." I insisted sternly. "We don't need to be ranked up on the Death Eater' Most-Wanted List any higher than we already are." Everything went silent and I waited for any lingering, important questions anyone had. Darcie spoke up.

"Delaney?"

"What?" I asked, turning towards her. She looked almost completely pale like she instantly lost the tan color from her face, but was still present on the rest of her. I felt bad for my only little sister.

"I'm scared." She confided. I turned the doorknob the rest of the way and opened it slowly.

"I know." I confessed back to her. Pausing for a moment before I continued, as I felt a sense of impending doom.

"I am, too."


	3. The Great Escape

Finally, I was able to open the door after numerous hesitations and questions. The falling snow had slowed and it seemed the wind had completely stopped – much to my bare forearms relief. We filed out of the store one by one, huddled closely together, wands at the ready. Picking up our pace we moved quickly across the street back to the book shop. I was still amazed at the silence of it all. It was almost deafening with the exception of the cascading snowflakes falling to the ground and collecting with the billions of others. Everything was white and the streets remained dead with only the sounds of our footsteps crunching as we trudged through the thick blankets of ice; trying to ignoring the growing numbness in our fingers and faces. As I wandered toward the destination, lost in the feeling of awe at everything, I felt someone suddenly pull me back to a hault.

"What is it?" I asked looking around. Whitney pointed straight ahead to a wooden bin outside one of the many boarded up stores, while her other arm held me back.

"What did you see?" Darcie asked concerned. She was quickly hushed and fell silent. Everything was quiet again. I softly released Whitney hand from holding me back.

"Lumos." I whispered quietly. The tip of my wand lit the darkness as I crept slowly, closer to the bin. Megan walked up behind me and pointed her wand into the bin in one fluid, rushed motion.

"Levi-corpus!" She exclaimed quickly as soon as she could see over the edge of the wooden sides. We all watched in horror, getting prepared to see anything suddenly appear before our eyes. Instead of screams, we heard a frantic barrage of squeaks and squeals from a white and brown spotted rat being lifted from the bin by its ankle scrambling manicly through the air for anything to grab onto.

"Oh, God." Whitney breathed. We all let out a collected sigh of relief. Darcie lowered the rat softly onto the snow and released it. We watched as the rat stopped moving momentarily and simply stared back at us with its beady-red eyes. Then suddenly, it collected itself and ran off, scurrying away as fast as it could.

"Good luck, little guy." I muttered. "Nox.' I said turning my attention back to the bookstore; extinguishing the light. We continued making our way through the alley snickering at how stupid we all felt about thinking the rat was a way bigger threat then it actually was. Well, one good thing about the snow was that the moonlight seemed to reflect off of it and illuminate everything just a bit, bathing everything in a surreal blue light. We passed a few stores that had been boarded up because of the war. Finally, we reached the door to the bookstore. Quickly Darcie moved ahead of me and opened the front door. We all filed through and rushed- almost running- to the fireplace towards the back of the shop.

"I can't believe it was a freaking rat!" Katie exclaimed.

"I know, right?" Whitney agreed, throwing herself down on an overstuffed armchair adjacent to the fireplace.

"Okay, so where do we go from here?" Katie asked.

"Ottery, St. Catchpole. The Weasleys live there and we have to find them." I mentioned, finding what was remaining of their floo powder and ushered Katie to the fireplace. She grabbed a handful of powder and announced her destination.

"Ottery, St. Catchpole!" Then she threw the powder down by her feet. Almost simultaneously she was engulfed in green flames and disappeared almost at the exact same moment the fire went out. Whitney watched and commented on the strangeness of it all.

"I'll never get used to that." She said shaking her head as she sat up.

"Alright, who's next?" I asked motioning to the powder with my free hand.

"Who died and made you powder-keeper?" Shavai asked trying her damndest to be serious. But I was one-up on her.

"You will now make your ass disappear before I kick it.' I suggested, offering the powder as her only escape.

"Fine, you win." Shavai answered, defeated. She trudged over, heavy-footed and her shoulders slouched forward She finally stood infront of me and grabbed a fistful of powder. "but I'm warning you. As soon as you step foot out of wherever we end up, I'll be waiting with something to hit you with." She threatened, pointing an index finger in my face. I pointed, in turn, to the fireplace.

"Go." I warned. Shavai turned on her heel and began skipping towards the hearth, singing like a dwarf.

"Hi ho, hi ho, it's to the floo I go! Da da da da, da da da da… hi ho…" Then she did the usual protocol and went onwards to our destination- which incidentally, we weren't exactly sure where it was. The only thing we knew for sure at that moment, was that it had to be better than where we were right then.

"Well, my turn." Megan said stepping towards me. She got her powder then ducked into the fireplace. She peeked her head out to me. "See you on the other side." She said, cracking a tired smile.

"Good luck." I replied. Megan began ducking back under, when something caught her eye.

"What's the matter, Dars?" She asked. I whirled around to see Darcie standing a few feet away, staring blankly out the front window of the store. "Darcie?" Megan repeated. Darcie glanced at us.

"Nothing, Just thinking." She answered at last, walking back to us, but not taking her attention off the window for a second.

"About what?" Whitney asked, tearing a few pages out of a book, then tossed it off to the side of the chair.

"That rat." Darcie said.

"What about it?" Whitney asked again.

"Just seeing it. It was so weird." I took that thought to heart, but settled on nothing. "I mean," Darcie continued. "Just out there, in the snow." Then something clicked finally. A rat. Out there. In the middle of winter with no food.

"Ah, shit!" I exclaimed and ran to the front window. From the sudden reaction I had, the others joined me in running to the window with me. "No, no, no …. Please don't." I muttered incoherently as I gazed out the window from left to right. When suddenly, something caught my ear. Shouting. They were too far to make out what they were saying, but something told me they were heading this way.

"What is it?" Whitney asked, alerted that something was wrong. I ran back to the fireplace and grabbed the arm chair Whitney had been sitting in and began pushing it to the barricade the door with everything I had, too busy to answer her, Darcie answered for me.

"Don't you get it? It was an animangus! It wasn't a rat at all!" She all but shouted. Once we got the door situated, we ran back to the fireplace. I suddenly got an idea.

"You guys go ahead. I'll hold them off till you guys get through, then I'll come through." I heard the yelling get closer. With any luck, the snow had covered all traces of our where-abouts.

"Ottery, St. Catchpole!" Megan exclaimed, just before the green flames engulfed her.

"Now, hurry you two!" I told Darcie and Whitney sternly, getting in an attack position, poised with my wand over my head, my arm infront of me like some type of barrier.

"But Delaney-"

"No buts!" I snapped back. Whitney went ahead while, Darcie stayed behind, listening as the yells got louder and the wand lights became visible.

"What if they get you? What if you get killed?" I thought on that for a split second. But I thought the best thing to do in that scenario was simply to just smile and reassure her.

"Don't be ridiculous." I'll be right behind you. But if I'm not there in three minutes, go ahead and find the Weasleys, now go!" I ordered. Darcie grabbed a handful of powder and went into the floo. I guess next time you'll listen to me next time when I read a book, huh?" I asked once the yells were at the front of the store. Darcie smirked, but then turned solemn again as she heard some yells from outside.

"Look at the footprints! They're in here! Told you I saw 'em!" I snapped my attention to Darcie, who looked absolutely petrified. I hated seeing her like that.

"I can't go till you do! Now, go!" I yelled. Darcie said the destination fiercely and flung the powder to her feet then disappeared just as the others had. Once Darcie was gone, I began rushing myself as fast as I could to the fireplace to make my escape when suddenly, a discarded book caused me to slip. I held tightly onto my wand knowing if I had lost that, I didn't have a prayer. Unfortunately, I didn't think of something quick enough. I saw the porcelain jar launch itself out of my other hand and land about two feet away with a loud crash, just as the mob outside was trying to force open the front door that was blocked by the heavy arm chair. And I panicked. For a moment it was like everything was moving in slow motion from my perspective on the floor. And in that moment, it was as if I had forgotten everything I had planned. I saw the angry men at the door, trying to get the chair to budge. Heard their commanded shouts for me to come out and how I wouldn't be harmed. But I knew better. Then came their shouts how I had no hope for an escape. I knew they were probably right, and then something peculiar happened. Everything we had been through came crashing down around me in one moment.

"I'm not ready." I admitted outloud to myself. I lifted myself up from the ground, struggling to gain my footing back to a standing position. I finally made it up from the floor, hearing my heart thundering in my head. I scrambled my thoughts together for any hint of the plan I had thrown together in my desperation, as I quickly stooped down and grabbed some floo powder in my hand. Once back to standing on my feet, I continued running ahead to the floo.

"Blast the window!" I heard one of the nameless faces at the door yell, then saw some of them run infront of the window at the front of the store. That gave me a spontaneous idea. I raised my wand at the window from my position inside the fireplace, as if it were me against all of them in a old-fashioned western gunfight. First to fire lives, I reminded myself and I called their bluff.

"Reducto!" I yelled, almost immediately a burst of bright blue light expelled out of the tip of my wand and travelled across the walls to the window like sound waves, the glass in the huge bay window shattered and the pieces blasted outwards at them. Shouts from the first row of men on the outside made me smirk, hearing the angrier shouts from them screaming about how the shards had managed to get some of them in their faces, and others in their eyes. But still, the ones who weren't injured began clammering closer, lifting themselves up with their able-bodies and began climbing through the window.

"Muffliato!" I whispered quickly, some of them reached their hands up to their heads, probably wondering about the peculiar, sudden buzzing sound that filled their ears. Others began shouting hexes at me as I ran and ducked back into my position in the fireplace, but before I could, I heard a gruff voice announce to the others, "I got her!" And felt long nails cut into my skin as he grabbed my forearm. I pointed my wand at him after a second of struggling got me nowhere.

"Expelliarmus!" He blasted backwards and fell over his own feet to the floor, three feet away. At the lost possible second, I threw myself forward into the fireplace as others gathered nearer. I threw down the powder at my feet and announced with all conviction in me I could muster. "Ottery, St. Catchpole!" Gasping for air, I found myself throwing myself out of another fireplace, someplace I'd never seen anywhere before, but familiar voices greeted my ears and caring hands caught my arms and helped me carefully sit down as I huffed and puffed, to catch my breath.

"What happened?"

"How many were there?"

"How did you escape?"

I was asked these among a barrage of other questions, but I had a few equally important questions of my own to get answered first.


	4. The Village of Ottery, St Catchpole

Chapter 4: The Village of Ottery, St. Catchpole

"Where are we?" I asked as I found myself in a dimly lit basement. The lights seemed to flutter as my eyesight adjusted to the surroundings. Again the questions began.

"How'd you escape? What happened?" Everyone seemed to be speaking at once and furthermore, it seemed my own burning inquiries would have to wait as my heart raced in my chest. The close call encounter was closer than I'd care to recall, but saw only two of their faces.

One man was short and chubby, with a round face made narrow looking by a thick, trimmed beard. The other man was much more sinister looking. One glance at him and it was as if I was staring at him for hours. The only proper term I could think of to fit the man, was evil. He had a tall stature, had a pointed, English nose and walked on two legs. There, the human similarities ended.

No man looked the way he did. His eyes were ice-blue, almost grey and reminded me of the mask on a Siberian husky's face. They held no emotion except malice and hunger. His teeth were yellowed and pointed , and the robes he wore exposed his chest- which was almost completely covered by a dark mass of hair that I could only speculate covered the rest of him, because his hand and arm were covered in it when he tried to grab me when I tried to duck into the floo. He also had fur over his entire face, it seemed every inch were covered in some type of whiskers. He had no eyebrows and his hairline receded, giving him the look that his hair slicked back and ran down his neck and onto his back. I only saw him for a few seconds, but it was enough to last me for the rest of my life.

I felt my right arm burn where Megan had grabbed it just moments ago.

"Delaney, you're bleeding." I looked down to see sure enough, she was right. I cradled it with my other hand, feeling the blood trickle down my fingertips.

"It's nothing. It's a scratch." I replied simply. Darcie tried to touch it, but I swatted her hand away. "Anyway, after Darcie finally got through, they tried to go through the window and I blasted it out at them and hurt some of them with the glass. There was about 6 or 7 of them altogether. As I was saying, after I blasted the glass, the other couple that weren't hurt, came rushing through the window at me. But I ran like hell afterwards to the floo, when one of them grabbed me." The events ran through my head as I retold the tale, motioning to my now bleeding arm. "I got him off though, and I arrived here. And that's really all there is to it."

"They didn't hear where you were going, did they?" Shavai inquired, whirling around to face me at the bottom of a staircase. It appeared we were in someone's basement.

"No, I cast a spell that made it where they couldn't hear me. The Muffliato." I answered, still clutching my arm. Man, it stung so bad and was bleeding a little more than I anticipated. And with the stinging sensation came the putrid face of the man who gave it to me. I sat down exhausted, at least it wasn't as chilly as outside in here. "Guys," I called everyone's attention to me once again as they were scoured about, taking a look at things. "I think we got a bigger problem." I finished my sentence, trying to get my breathing under control.

"I'm not a hundred percent on this, but I think I ran into F-F-Fenrir Greyback." I searched the faces of my friends for their reactions. Megan and Shavai looked like death warmed over after I said the name, and Darcie, Whitney, and Katie looked at me like I had lobsters falling out of my ears. Probably uncomprehending how terrified they should truly be.

"Who's that?" Darcie asked, stepping towards me. Whitney and Katie kept their eyes on me like two A students cramming for a test. I had forgotten they knew so little about this world. So Megan, Shavai and I tried our best, to lay it all out for them.

"He's the guy that- well, he's not actually a guy-" Megan began to try to explain.

"He's a werewolf." I concluded. They switched their attention span to me for a second. "He's the one that bit and turned Professor Lupin into one." All three of them stared at my arm in horror and took a step back. "No, not me, you nimrods. He did not bite me. He scratched me. I don't know why, but there is a difference."

"So what then? We will just have to be extra careful during the full moons and we'll be fine." Whitney offered us as a conclusion.

"It's not that simple!" I said sternly, rising to my feet. "He's also a Death Eater, so he'll also be looking for us." I shifted my eyes both ways and lowered my voice to make them listen after a moment of absolute silence. "He also has a nasty habit of killing and biting people for the hell of it. Sometimes, he even does it while he is still in human form. There also is a rumor that he can transform at will." Darcie thought hard for a moment as I brushed passed her to the foot of the stairs.

"But I thought the rule was that werewolves could only transform during full moons." She reminded us, hoping we were simply trying to scare her.

"It appears that rule has been broken." Shavai said as we all gathered to the staircase steps.

"Now, where are we?" I finally asked. "Has anyone been through the trouble of seeing if we were anyplace safe, yet?"

"Already done." Katie said, turning her attention to Darcie to continue in detail.

"We're in the village of Ottery, St. Catchpole." Darcie answered. "This is the basement of Amelia Trelawney. She's a sweet old woman who used to teach at Hogwarts many years ago – even before Snape!" She continued to fill me in as we walked up the stairs slowly. "But it ended quickly. Appearantly a student in one of her classes made a mix that blew up and did a nasty number on her face. But other than how she looks, she's really nice. She said she's a seer and that she knew we were coming, that's why she was already making cookies and tea when we started arriving." I thought to myself how odd that was. And did she say her last name was Trelawney? I opened the door with my wand ready and aimed to see the back of an old woman moving a porcelain tea set off of an antique tea trolley and onto a long, rectangular coffee table. Then she looked at us. And the first thing I fought back was a gasp. It seemed as though she had no nose. Once of her eyes was partially sealed shut, and the rest of her skin on her face was different colors that ranged from olive to burn marks all about her face. But she had grey hair pulled back in a tight bun, and she had kind eyes from what I could see.

"Don't be disturbed at my appearance. I assure you, I mean no harm." She said with a noticeable lisp. "Tea's set." She announced cheerfully. I admit, I distrusted her, even though she gave me a kind of warm sensation as if the woman could be my own grandmother. I kept my wand raised.

"I knew you would be coming."

"So I've heard." I answered wearily. She offered me a seat on her couch, which I declined.

"Cookies ready to come out, won't be but a minute, dears." She said excusing herself walking with a very noticeable limp to the kitchen.

"How do you know we can trust her!" I whispered hoarsely to the others.

"She was a professor!" Megan yelled in a hushed tone to me.

"Yeah? Well so was Snape!" I whispered back. Megan thought of another point.

"She was in the Order of the Phoenix!" She yelled to me.

"Yeah? So. Was. Snape!" I yelled spacing out every word for emphasis. I truly wanted to be able to trust this woman. She entered back in the room with a steaming plate of chocolate chip cookies, and began doling out either tea or milk to each of us with cookies. I lowered my wand but kept it handy for the time being, opting to stand by myself with my back towards the warmth of the lit hearth. After a moment of silence sipping at her tea, Amelia finally spoke.

"Don't worry. I wouldn't advise you to trust anybody. That'd be the worst thing you could do. However, don't you think since this is my house and I, being a poor old woman, I'd deserve a little conversation? Like 'How's the weather?' 'How are you today?' 'Where do the Weasleys live?" My jaw just about dropped to the floor when she said that.

"Are you related to Sybil?" I asked, recognizing the last name. She motioned to a portrait above the fireplace mantle. There was a gorgeous middle aged woman, posed solemnly with a crystal ball that looked as though she were a real, live, sleeping woman through a window rather than a simple portrait.

"Indeed. That is my grandmother Cassandra." She took a sip from her tea as the fire crackled in the background. "It was once said that she was given the gift from the gods to see the future, however she was also cursed by the fates that no one would ever believe her predictions. Sad, really." We all agreed at the news of this.

"However, I can assure you, you needn't be afraid of me. I'm not under His service." She answered setting her cup down, and folded her hands neatly in her lap.

"Forgive me, Mame. But you don't expect me to just take your word for it, do you?"

'Believe what you will, but let me assure you , I do not and refuse to serve one who treats life with such little respect. Let alone one who puts scars and ruins youth and vitality simply to save His own skin." She reached her fingers up gingerly to touch her own face as though she were looking in a mirror.

"Why would he do such a thing to you?" Katie asked.

"Because I caught him in the restricted section one day, reading up on things he should have no need to ever know. Dark things can turn the mind dark, you know." She answered solemnly. "I told Tom to place the book back and that I would have to tell the headmaster if he didn't return the book at once. But he wouldn't budge." Her good eye seemed to glaze over with the memory. We all listened to every word.

"I was late for my next class that day. Tom was in my next period, so I figured it was last class of the day, I could keep an eye on him and speak it over with Dumbeldore the second it was over. I was teaching the students to make the Draught of the Living Dead that day and went about helping the students giving about hints. When Tom called me over.' Her voice turned to a low tone of regret suddenly. "I should've seen it then. I knew it, felt it. There was something evil in that boy. It was as if there were no boy in there ever. As I was saying, I went over to Tom's cauldron and the next thing I knew I woke in St. Mungo's hospital, five months in recovery, while a young man named Horace Slughorn took up my post at the school. My face and career were destroyed forever after that."

She got up and moved herself to the fireplace to show us a picture of herself when she was younger. She ran her fingers over the frame and traced her jaw line with nimble fingers. Darcie changed the subject.

"These cookies are delicious. Are these chocolate chip?" She asked, offering the compliment.

"Yes, they are." Amelia answered Darcie kindly. "I have a notorious sweet tooth and used to make enough for all the children. But since the accident, I've been viewed as some type of pariah and once you lock yourself out of view of the public, they still keep your name out there with them and I'm afraid I got some bad gossip about myself. Especially thanks to that vicious Rita Skeeter of the Daily Prophet. That woman will stop at nothing to get a piece of tripe to write." I was put to ease with her candor, and put my wand in the waist band of my jeans, and took a sip of the tea. Apparently my silence did the opposite for the rest of my company.

"What's troubling you, dear?" She asked easing herself back into her rocking chair I had somehow failed to notice all this time.

"Just have some things on my mind, is all." I set my tea down on the coffee table and sat on the floor by the fire, trying to get my hands warm.

"Care to talk about it?" She offered, then suddenly her face distorted into a look of shock. She turned away from us all and asked a question over her shoulder. "What did you all say your names were?" I sat up straight. Everyone looked taken aback by the sudden question, unsure of how to answer.

"Well, I'm Megan. This is Shavai." Megan made introductions and went around the room pointing and tapping all our shoulders even though Amelia had her back to us. "And this is Darcie's sister, Delaney."

"I thought so." She answered quietly. "Hang on, just a moment." She grabbed a cane from beside the fireplace and left the room limping quickly out of sight, leaving us on our own to speculate.

"Where did she go?" Darcie asked.

"How the hell should I know?" Megan answered, listening to footsteps that sounded like she was above us. She must've had a staircase around here somewhere.

"Probably to tell the Death Eaters we're here." I answered mockingly, I put my hand to my side hovering above my wand in case I needed it after all. We stood wearily watching the ceiling with all of us standing to attention in silence watching where we heard the footsteps coming from. Then we heard her start descending and we all sat back in our positions, but ready to run at any moment. When Amelia made her entrance, she held a small wooden chest, that was closed with a brass lock. She sat it gingerly on the table. We all stared in unison, wondering what this was all about.

"This was delivered by owl from Albus Dumbeldore just before he died." Amelia announced.

"So what's the magic password to open it?" Darcie asked, setting her cookies aside and staring inches from it. Amelia went through a pocket in her dress and pulled something out in a crumpled fist.

"No magic." She answered and offered the key to anyone who would take it. We all kept our distance, wondering if it was a trap or it was Pandora's box that contained all kinds of unknown evil. Shavai stood and accepted the key.

"What is it?" I asked as Shavai began twisting the key until we heard the click. As she removed the lock from the chest, I got my answer.

"I'm unsure of its contents. Albus always leaned toward the mysterious." She answered ruefully. "However, when I received it, it was addressed to all of you." Shavai flipped the top back and began pulling out the contents. She placed the items out on the table for everyone to see. She laid out a map, a compass, and a letter.

"What's in the letter?" Darcie asked. I stood up and snatched the letter from the table, as Shavai was looking at the map and the compass. I scanned over it silently.

"Well, what does it say?" Megan inquired impatiently.

"_Dear girls_," I started reading.

"_By the time this letter reaches you, I fear my disease has run its course and I will no longer be among you. And suffice it to say that the world in which you find yourself will be a sad reminder of itself. Enclosed, I have left you with a special compass to help regain that which is lost, and a rather special map. I'm sorry to cut this short, but at the moment time is the one thing I haven't had enough of lately so there's no time for pleasantries. _

_There is no way of knowing the future, the only advice I can give is this: Reunite with Harry and help him to survive this. If all goes well, then everything will be done with once and for all. And if ever you should find yourself doubting, remember sometimes, to move forward, one must go back to the beginning. Don't lose sight of your friends, do what's right in your heart and you'll never go wrong." _I was confused by the vague advice, but continued nonetheless_. _

_"The pressure on you must be tremendous. Without you, the Boy Who Lived would be having an even harder time saving our world. But with you, I do not see failure in your future. _

_Best wishes, Albus Dumbeldore."_

We all sat, bewildered by the letter. It seemed to insinuate that Harry needed us more than we thought. But how would we ever find them? I could hardly remember what we needed to do, simply to survive. I was winging it. I looked to Amelia. She sat thoughtfully and seemed completely content. I looked at a clock above the mantle. Three-fifteen in the morning. We needed to get to the Burrow.

"What does all that mean?" Katie asked Amelia. She twiddled her thumbs together with her hands clasped on her lap.

"It says exactly what you needed to know." She answered whimsically. Why couldn't anyone around here give a simple straight answer? I folded the letter and placed it in my pocket. I motioned to see the compass. Shavai passed it to me. It looked like a normal compass, but the needle continued to move, even though my hands were still.

"We really ought to be going." I suggested. "Thanks for everything." I said to Amelia. She smiled in response, then watched us all move toward her front door.

"You are always welcome to spend the night here." She offered. I wish I could take her up on that. Her home seemed so inviting.

"Thank you. But we're wanted. It wouldn't be fair to put you in that situation. No one has a fight with you, and I couldn't bear to think what would happen if we were the cause for you to." I responded. I wish we could stay.

"What are they going to do? Cut short me young life?" She joked. We all chuckled a bit. Then we continued towards the door, muttering our thanks.

"Wait just a moment!" She ordered fiercely. We all stopped in our tracks and turned towards her. "I refuse that you leave this house in such attire! You'll all catch colds and be sick as dogs, then what use can you be to the cause?" We all looked at our short sleeves and back at her. She opened a closet door beside us and pulled out some heavy winter coats, mostly in black. I admired how stylish she was for her age. A black trench coat with coat tails in the back, she handed it to me and as soon as I put it on, I was grateful. She gave the others, sweaters and one or two other coats, and wished us the best of luck. We filed outside into a large field, as soon as we stepped foot off the porch.

"Thank you for everything, Mrs. Trelawney." Megan said.

"Thanks so much." I reiterated, sincerely. Darcie walked out with us, and was pulled into a hug by Amelia. She whispered something to Darcie, Darcie gave a weak smile and was reluctant to join us.

"The Burrow is just two miles in that direction." Amelia told us pointing. "Just follow the moon, and please, be careful. A lot is riding on you. You girls just don't understand how important you are." Her voice seemed to trail behind us as we began walking.

We walked towards the moon, away from the inviting ambience of Amelia's home. It was sheer luck we had even come there- or was it? Something in the back of my mind was screaming this had to be preordained. If I was a woman that old and a load of strangers came waltzing in, I wouldn't have been so welcoming. Much less had a package for them with tea and cookies. But there was one question that begged an answer just as her house became a small light behind us in all the tall grass surrounding us.

"What did she say to you, Darcie?" I asked finally. Something told me it was on everyone's mind as well as we kept up our pace and no one spoke another word. We came to a small puddle and had to stretch our legs as far as they could go to walk over it.

"She told me not to be afraid of death." Darcie said simply, as if she had traded her a recipe or some other menial task. But it wasn't. It made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

"Why did she say that?" I asked.

"I asked her the same question. She didn't answer but," She paused as she crossed the puddle. "She told me to just think of my friends and why we're friends." And for once I had nothing to say, except consider the fact that the woman was a seer. She never told us if any of her predictions had ever been wrong before. It was always possible she was afterall, her daughter's mother. But she did know we were coming. Something told me even on Sybil's luckiest of days, she wouldn't have been able to know we were going to arrive like that. But I also had to consider I might lose my only little sister. I made a vow silently then and there that I would keep her safe, that even under pain of death, I would sacrifice my life if it meant in the end, she would be unharmed.

"I was thinking about Dumbeldore's letter." Megan announced.

"Who hasn't?" I replied. The letter was not only unnerving, but unsettling as well.

"Well that part about 'to _move forward, sometimes you have to go back to the beginning_." She paraphrased the letter. "Well I was thinking that in the beginning, everything started at Hogwarts. So I was thinking,"

"I know. We have to go back." I answered simply. "It started there, and so it seems, it must end there. The question is, when?" I brushed some more tall grass out of the way to reveal a run-down house, that looked more like a farm house with all this marsh around it with the grass being taller than we were and how dense it was. I pulled the compass out of my pocket and gave it a quick glance. The needle was moving around the house. We had arrived at the Burrow.

And once we climbed over the small wooden fence around the edge of it, we began walking towards the house itself not knowing what to expect only knowing that if we wanted to survive, we'd have to do it together. And for the first time in a long time, since we arrived here, we all felt a twinge of hope and that was worth more than anything.

A/N:: I would like to apologize for the chronic disappearance and reappearance of Shavai. Her character I've decided has been completely omitted from the story. I will fix this of course, at the first chance I get. So sorry once again and please leave a review!


	5. The Burrow Under Siege

Chapter 5: The Burrow Under Siege

Once we closed in on the Burrow, warm images of family washed over us. We couldn't wait to be greeted by the friendly, familiar faces that awaited us. But something seemed wrong. The closer we approached, the more things seemed different. There weren't any lights on that were visible through the many windows. There wasn't a single garden gnome in sight. The moon illuminated just enough to see the silhouette of the house, but did no more than show how the roof was formed. I expected warmth and light when we arrived- not this. Not this chill that felt like I had a shot of ice water running through my veins and was making my heart stop and speed up at the same time. I found myself automatically, silently wishing for their safety. I found myself, hoping against all the odds that the nagging in my mind was wrong that something awful had happened here. I tried to ignore the fact that everything pointed out that this was not a home anymore, but a crime scene.

Then I heard Darcie's breath hitch in her throat. I turned my head to the direction it came from. Darcie was standing still admiring something on the ground at her feet with fear written across her face, not speaking a word. I walked quickly to her side. There, lying at her feet, dead as a door-nail was a chicken. Its throat had been slit. A bit of crimson was splashed across the feathers. Then I looked around a moment and I wasn't sure if I had seen them or my mind had picked that precise moment to acknowledge them, but there they were- plain as day. Littered all around the Burrow, were the carcasses of dead chickens. Feathers blew in the wind and cascaded freely about the yard. _Where is everybody,_ I thought to myself, now worried about a very real threat that had no name. I was also worried that if we investigated a bit further we'd be finding the corpses not of chickens, but the inhabitants of the Burrow.

"What happened to them?" Whitney asked as she and Megan joined our sides.

"Psst!" Darcie called to Katie who was walking towards the porch steps. She turned back to look at Darcie, who motioned for her to join us before it was too late.

"What do we do now?" Megan asked. We all gripped our wands. There looked like there had to be about 30 or more slaughtered chickens sprawled on the property. I for one, wasn't about to go around counting the exact number. I also knew one chicken that didn't die due to natural cause was too many for me. Everything pointed inconclusively to something had definitely happened here. The question was- what? I looked up at the foreboding house. It now gave an ominous feeling instead of the usual welcoming. It had always been a refuge for everyone that had ever walked inside.

"So who's going to go in?" Katie asked. I continued staring at the darkened doorway, my feet frozen in place. Then the question she asked had finally connected in my brain at last and I turned my head to look at everyone standing in a line by my side- all looking at me expectantly. I shook my head.

"No. No, no, no. I went in first last time!" I whispered harshly back to them all. "This is not fair!" I finally announced. "Darcie, you go!"

"But I can't defend myself and neither can Katie or Whitney! And Megan's a coward." She rattled off her points as if I gave a damn. "Besides, we don't have any straws and you've been volunteered." She went silent for a moment then threw in a last one, hastily. "They might have food in there!" We turned our focus back to the door. I tried to gain confidence by lying to myself.

"It's just a door." I said aloud. They all agreed mumbling incoherently."It's just a door." I took a step forward, up to the porch steps. "It's just a door." I repeated as I walked up the steps. Just as I got to the top and approached the door handle, I reassured myself one last time. "A door… with some unknown thing that could possibly kill me on the other side." I tried my best to slowly open the door to the best of my ability, without making it creak. It groaned as I pushed it open inch by inch to try to get a look inside before something unexpected to get the drop on me. There was darkness. I walked inside trying to make as little noise possible as I whispered _Lumos, _deeming it reasonably safe to go on with a light. The furniture was in order. Nothing major seemed out of place. I continued walking in moderate darkness and made note of the change in feeling I had towards this particular house. Once happy and wholesome and now it seemed as though it was haunted by spirits of the past, by ghosts of forgotten memories, by disease and remedy, of life and death- it now made anyone who walked within its walls a victim of betrayal. Betrayal in the sense that as soon as you grew used to the delightful family ambience, the world took it away. It seems, especially in this world, there was nothing concrete in terms of safety. Nothing was absolute anymore. I got caught up in my thoughts and noticed when I moved my feet along the hard wood floor, there was hard crunching beneath my feet. I picked a foot up, there was glass beneath it. Shattered pieces glowed in the moonlight like bits of ice. I looked around for its source; a broken out window caught my eye. Someone was recently, or possibly still was, inside with me. I had to know.

"Hello!" I announced loudly. "Weasleys?" I walked around calling into the darkness. "Molly! Ginny? Fred? Arthur? George?" My sudden burst of confidence wore off. As I entered the kitchen, I looked at Molly's one-of-a-kind clock. Ginny's clock hand pointed to Hogwarts. Bill and Arthur's were pointed to work. Ron, Molly, Fred, and George were simply pointed to 'out'. I searched, but found no trace. Anybody who was here, would've been aware of my presence by now. I waited a few seconds then announced to the outside.

"Coast's clear!" Slowly still, they came in one by one like timid mice. We went about looking for dry food.

"Alright. Whitney, Katie, you two stay here with Megan. Darcie, you're coming with me to find the tents Arthur keeps for the Quidditch games. If something happens, get outside and go to the shed where we'll be." Everyone agreed, and Darcie and I began walking out to the shed a few yards from the house. The door gave easy.

"Delaney, I don't feel good about this." Darcie stated as she held her wand up while I searched through a pile of rubbish. I tried to keep things somewhat the way they were before.

"Don't worry about it." I responded, grunting as I moved a laundry basket filled with odds and ends that felt like it weighed a million pounds. "We'll leave a note."

"That's not what I meant. I meant that I don't feel safe at all here." She finished. Now I knew I wasn't the only one who had the distinct feeling. I played it off.

"I dunno what you mean." I said, not looking in her eyes. Infact, I tried not to look at her face at all. It seemed impossible for me to lie about something detrimental to her when I looked at her face, so I busied myself looking for the tent. Suddenly, something caught my eye. "Look, it's going to be alright." I climbed over a pile of displaced dresser drawers hazardously stacked ontop of each other and picked up a rolled up sack. We had found the tent. I found going back over was a lot easier than the journey over them the first time. I stood by Darcie as she held the wand aloft for more light. I wasn't sure what to do to make her believe what I said to her. I wouldn't believe me. We weren't hugging sisters, I wasn't the overly-affectionate type. I reached out my hand and put it on her shoulder as she turned to walk away.

"I mean it. It'll be okay, Darcie." She looked expectant at me, for what I didn't have a clue. Then it hit me. "Woah. This is as physical as I get. You want more you're going to have to pay me." She smiled a bit. The first one I'd seen all night. I nudged her elbow with mine. "You know, Darcie, since we've been going through all this you've been more-"

A piercing scream filled the air. Darcie and I looked at each other.

"Whitney." She said, I threw the pack's straps over my shoulder. We drew our wands and bolted off in the direction of the house. Bursting through the door, we looked around. This time a yell of our names to come quickly.

"Where are you?" We called.

"We're at the top of the stairs!" Megan called back. Darcie and I rushed the stairs, two at a time. Once we arrived, wands drawn and out of breath, we saw Katie, Megan and Whitney standing still. Their wands were lit, Megan stooped down. I swallowed hard and held Darcie back. There was the corpse of a man, eyes wide open, frozen in fear. His wand strewn aside further down the hall we found ourselves in.

"Is he alive?" I asked.

"Don't know, I'm not touching him." Whitney responded. I stooped down and checked his pulse. There wasn't any. Somebody meant to take him out and they knew what they were doing.

"He's dead." I concluded, sitting back on my legs. "Anyone recognize him?"

"No." Was the concluded answer from everyone. I had an inkling. I reached out and pulled his cloak's sleeve back.

"He's a Death Eater." I announced. There clear as day, was the Dark Lord's symbol. I pulled out the compass. It stayed stationary. Then I thought about something else. "Pull out the map." Megan reached into her back pocket and pulled it out and unrolled it." Dumbeldore made this map, he gave it to us for a reason. " I concentrated on the map that showed the forest of Dean, Gringott's Bank, and other wizarding places.

"What was Dumbeldore's favorite candy?" I asked suddenly. Something had clicked together in my mind, and I didn't even understand it.

"Uh…. Sherbert Lemon?" And just like that, dots appeared all over the page, but there were seven stars in distinct areas. One red dot was on St. Catchpole.

"We did it." I answered with awe, proud of myself, the dead man laying lifeless by us.

"You did what?" Katie asked admiring the map.

"No idea. But we did it and here it is." I concluded as though I actually knew what I was talking about. I looked at the dead man by us. With this map, a tent and my friends, I suddenly had a vague idea of a plan formulated in my head.

"So who's going to check his pockets for money?"


End file.
